As the FFRF says, this is a violation of the Establishment Clause. It’s not as overt as just handing the church money, but they’re denying taxpayers revenue for the city because they want to accommodate the churches’ wishes. There’s no reason to cave in to the churches’ demands.

To the San Luis Obispo City Council: Turn the meters on at 9:00a like all the other days. Tell the worshipers to take some of their tithing money and put it in the meter slots. Everyone will be just fine and you’ll avoid a lawsuit.

Tax money and tax breaks can go to religious organizations without falling foul of the Establishment Clause, so long as it’s not the result of the government favoring religion. For example, a state university could provide funding to all valid student organizations, including Campus Crusade for Christ (and the Secular Student Alliance!).

However, making policy specifically to help out religious organizations is a problem, whether it involves money or not. The parking meters story sounds like an instance of this.

guest

but the break is not only for churchgoers. everyone who shows between 11am and 1pm will get the same advantage….how about not paying at all on weekends?

Miko

It doesn’t sound like they really have a case.

In any case, a better resolution would be to just get rid of the meters entirely. The city can make up for the reduction in revenue by cutting its budget for tear gas.

nome

My sister and her wife lives there (as far as I know do NOT got to church) I wonder what the local energy is?

Brian Westley

The FFRF should determine if there are any people going to synagogues or mosques in the area, which generally meet at times other than Sunday morning.

Michael

I would suggest they turn them off all day on Sunday. Clearly the businesses open shorter hours so why not encourage more trade with free parking all day?

wompwomp

If “everyone” is required to pay starting at 11am, the people attending church could still “loop hole” paying the meeter by considering it part tithing, which they can then claim on taxes later..

starskeptic

Didn’t Chicago sell their meters to an outside source? I thought the city council had no control of them…

thomtrue

ACK ACK ACK! When will these people learn NOT to support religion with their government?

Personally, I think all weekend should be free but that is my view. And it isn’t dependent upon a religion either.

I don’t think FFRF has a case here. There’s nothing to stop a Hindu, Muslim or atheist from parking for free on Sunday before 1:00pm. And while $77K would look pretty sweet in my own bank account, it’s a drop in the bucket for the city budget.

T-Rex

Get rid of the meters and start taxing those sumbitches instead. Some of us would prefer to not have to make up the shortfall in our government’s budget due to their exempt status’.

While we’re all waiting for the Christians to lose their special privileges, I hope that gyms, coffee shops, and other businesses offer early bird specials to Sunday shoppers, so at least the church goers have some competition for those spaces.

In other words, they could lie to the IRS, if they itemize. Which would, if they don’t get caught, save them about a quarter of the meter fees (and none of the overtime parking fines.)

What this is also about, is about SLO providing extra free parking for churches at the expense of merchants, one day a week.

dwasifar karalahishipoor

Parking meters shouldn’t be a revenue stream to begin with. They weren’t intended to be, originally. They were invented just to keep the spaces in front of downtown businesses turning over frequently, instead of being camped in all day by downtown workers and commuters. This was for the benefit of the businesses, not the city, which is why the meters originally measured parking in nickels and dimes – pay the tiny charge for the space and leave when you’re done, or get a ticket.

It’s also why, when the meters were privatized in Chicago, they became unusable; they weren’t designed to collect large amounts of money. People wound up not being able to park on their own streets because the meters, designed for a few nickels and dimes per day, were suddenly jammed so full of quarters from people paying the jacked-up rates that they didn’t have room to accept any more coins unless they were emptied almost daily.

I agree that christians shouldn’t get a free pass when everyone else has to pay, but the best solution would be just to get rid of these mechanical parasites, or at least scale them back to their original function.

Neil

That’s how it used to be, I didn’t know it had changed. Downtown SLO must be getting really busy on Sundays. Parking downtown has always been an issue, but the city has done a pretty good job of building extra parking structures and working with what they have.

Tom

Dunno how it is elsewhere but, here in the UK, a lot of government operations seem to shut down completely, or run on a skeleton staff, over the weekend – I suppose it would only be fair that, as you’re getting less from them during that time period, you should be paying lower taxes and parking fees and such during that period as well. Despite all the good that the NHS does, for example, there’s a reason why it’s commonly said in the UK, at least amongst those who can’t afford private health care, that you should hope to never, ever get sick or injured during the weekend.

lol! An establishment clause violation? How so? Are only Christians benefiting from this procedure? If not, then there’s no grounds for this complaint.

Michael

Same here, halfway around the world. UK. Used to be we got free parking on Sundays. Then Sunday trading started to take off and we had to pay. What’s with that? People wanted to trade on Sunday because people had less bother getting a place to park. Come on.

This is not an Establishment Clause violation. “The Constitution does not require complete separation of church and
state; it affirmatively mandates accommodation, not merely tolerance, of
all religions, and forbids hostility toward any. Anything less would
require the ‘callous indifference,’ that was never intended by the Establishment Clause” (Lynch v. Donnelly, internal citations ommitted).

The government can turn its parking meters on and off as it wishes. If it wants to assist people who would already be going to church anyway and make it easier for them to do so, this is not at all forbidden by the Constitution. If, however, they turned off parking meters only in front of Christian churches but kept them on in front of mosques and temples, this would not be a neutral policy in regards to religion,

The Other Weirdo

Jesus said to pray in your own closet, privately, away from prying eyes, so as not to appear like those hypocrites over there who proclaim to all and sundry how pious they are. So it shouldn’t cost churchgoers any more on Sunday, since they should be worshipping in their own homes. Oh wait… Yeah.

You’re arguing that in places like Chicago, with high property values, drivers are entitled to free space in which to park their cars.

Anonymous

Special rights are always given to those who get to hide behind religion to get non-profit status, take exemptions, and habd outs from the government aka the tax payers of America

Martin Williams

Thanks for posting this Hemant. This is a big issue in our little area of the world.

On another note we are very much looking forward to your visit to Cal Poly in April.

Martin Williams

The synagogue is about 5 miles outside of downtown and the Islamic Society while near downtown is smaller than our group.

Martin Williams

Now that most of the buildings have gone through earthquake retrofitting there are a lot of new businesses downtown that is attracting people.

Martin Williams

They are all turned off downtown. However, the parking garages still charge and there is a parking garage located between 3 of the churches.

Martin Williams

The only churches affected are Christian churches. While the meters are off the churches benefit but the remainder of the public loses. Even if I park for free to go to a business the city is still losing parking revenue which pays for road and sidewalk repairs downtown. So, in effect this is preferential treatment for Christian churches. Additionally, only churches were asked their opinion on the matter.

Martin Williams

Not everyone that opposes the parking is an atheist. At least on church, that is not located downtown, and the majority of businesses oppose this action.

Martin Williams

It is not a drop in the bucket for a city of 55,000 and this is less a matter of who gets to park there for free than a matter of their being free parking primarily for the purpose of church goers.